Chapter 1: Mapping the Ethical Experience
KEY TERMS
MORALITY
Any major decision that affects others.
IMMORAL
The way people should not act (it negatively affects others).
AMORAL
Morally neutral actions (neither good nor bad); can also describe attitudes/behaviors that show no
sensitivity to right or wrong.
PRINCIPLE
A fundamental law, rule or code of conduct.
CONSCIENCE
The human capacity to weigh right and wrong.
PERSONAL INTEGRITY
The quality of showing moral precepts by knowing what is right and wrong (and choosing to do the right
thing)
TELEOLOGICAL
Having to do with the design or purpose of something (for example, the purpose of a car is to transport
you from one place to another). However, when humans speak of an “end” we should try thinking of
this as completion/fullness, and not as an end point.
TELEOLOGICAL THINKING
Seeking to understand the ultimate goal, purpose or end of something (derives from the Greek root
“telos,” meaning “goal” and “logos,” meaning “study”). For example, from a teleological point of view,
the purpose of animal testing is to observe and determine if a product, medicine or procedure is safe for
human use.
EMPIRICISM
A theory that states that knowledge comes from experience or from sensory evidence.
SUBJECTIVE
A person’s own perception and understanding of something; this comes from an individual’s personal
experiences, feelings and perceptions (therefore, it is biased.)
OBJECTIVE
An understanding of something independent from any bias and can be perceived by others. For
example, a judge must be objective when deciding a court verdict.
ETHICS
Deals with the nature of the good, the nature of the human person, and criteria we use for making the right
choices
MORALITY
A system of right conduct based on beliefs and duty to follow accepted behavior/a system of ideas of right or
wrong
OBLIGATION
What one is bound to do by duty or contract
RESPONSIBILITY
Being morally accountable for one’s actions. Responsibility presumes knowledge, freedom, and the ability to
choose and to act
REVELATION
The ways God makes himself known to humankind
AUTONOMY
Independence or freedom of action
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
A branch of ethics dealing with right action and the nature of duty, without regard to the goodness or value of
motives or the desirability of the ends of any act
DESIRE
A strong wish for something or for something to happen
DUTY
Something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation
GOOD
Possessing or displaying moral virtue
PASSION
A powerful emotion or feeling, as love or hate
UNIVERSAL LAW
An act according to maxims that are universally accepted
ETHICS VERSUS MORALITY
E THICS
M ORALITY
-
Has to do with good character
-
-
Interested in the “good” humans tend
towards (i.e. Happiness and freedom)
Has to do with the customs, habits and
manners that shape human life
-
Ethics guides morality (ex. understanding
musical theory, reading music and
understanding technique)
Interested in the ways that humans can attain
the good (i.e. Rules or laws viewed as
duty/obligation)
-
morality is putting ethics into action (ex.
actually playing music)
-
-
Gives us an understanding of fundamental
principles underlying our actions
-
Ethics takes priority over morality because
the search for the good is so important in our
lives
T HE F OUR E THICAL E XPERIENCES
-
Ethics and morality become a series of do’s and don’ts which are imposed on you by an outside
authority.
-
You may feel that they are an intrusion on personal freedom, you may even think of ethics or
morality as something that others put upon you, rather than something that is yours.
-
Following the four ethical experiences is clearly a part of what it means to be human.
THE SCREAM : THE EXPERIENCE OF PERSONAL RESPONSE
-
After hearing a scream for help, one is affected at an intellectual level to act automatically
through instinct
-
The scream is an appeal and one feels a compulsion to respond
-
This is what is meant by an ethical response; it is a uniquely human experience
-
The ethics is hearing the scream, the morality is the course of action you take
THE BEGGAR : THE EXPERIENCE OF THE OTHER
-
Goodness translates into a responsibility to the Other (responsibility to other human beings)
-
Emmanuel Levinas argued that upon making eye contact, the “other” face takes you hostage and
makes you responsible
-
The face is ethical and forces you into a conflict of whether or not to help (which then to
questioning and rationalizing why or why not)
-
The Ethics is the face-to-face encounter, the morality is what you do
“I HAVE TO…” : THE EXPERIENCE OF OBLIGATION
-
Feeling obligated to obey a rule or law is deeply rooted in one’s ethical character
-
Something inside of you urges you to follow this law or do what is considered “right”
-
The order or wish of someone who is considered to be an authority invades your conscious and
demands a response (eg. Your parents telling you to be home at a certain time)
-
Your response has everything to do with your ethics
-
The ethics is the voice in your head reminding you of your obligation, the morality is your
response to this obligation (eg. Deciding to stay out versus abiding by your curfew)
THIS IS INTOLERABLE AND UNFAIR! : THE EXPERIENCE OF CONTRAST
-
We are often outrages by something blatantly unjust or unfair that is happening
-
We often have a perspective of what the world should look like and how situations should be
-
An ethical experience of contract occurs when this perspective and your expectations of others
is directly contrasted by what you witness (senseless violence, blatant injustice, and abuse)
-
The ethics is witnessing something that causes you to feel this contrast/turmoil, the morality is
choosing to voice your opinion or not
THE PHILOSOPHERS
ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC)
-
was born in the Greek colony Stagira and became friends with Philip of Macedon (and was later
invited to tutor his son, Alexander the Great)
-
after the death of his parents he moved to Athens to study at Plato’s academy
-
the two approached philosophy very differently: Plato focused on abstraction and
contemplation, while Aristotle explored the natural world/human experience with observation
-
under Alexander’s sponsorship Aristotle established his own school in Athens (the Lyceum)
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
-
first concern is not the individual, but the community (human life is shaped to full potential in
context to a community)
-
does not equate happiness with pleasure (pleasure is momentary, happiness is lifelong)
-
for Aristotle, ethics aims to discover what is good for us as human beings what permits us to
reach full potential, and what we are intended to be (internal compass)
-
his ethics are called teleological ethics because it derives from discovering the finality (telos) of
what we are intended to be
TELEOLOGY
-
according to Aristotle, every action and purpose may be said to aim at some good (the good is
what we all aim for)
-
happiness is what we all want but are unsure of how to achieve it
-
we are intended to be rational and our greatest capacity is to be intelligent
-
to act ethically is to engage our capacity to reason as we develop good character
-
a good person is one whose actions are based on reasoning and spends a lot of time thinking
H UMAN E XCELLENCE
-
when people seek to become who they are intended to be, they develop habits that represent
the best of what it means to be human (virtues)
-
to act virtuously is to do things well and to successfully act as a human being
-
held that a good person would use reason to control desire
-
we become virtuous by continuously choosing to do virtuous things and these actions become
habitual
T HE M EAN
-
Aristotle was very aware of the need to maintain balance in our actions
-
Be moderate in all things (avoid excess and shortage)
-
Try to stay in a middle that suits you as an individual (moderations can vary between people)
-
The nature of moral qualities/virtues is destroyed by defect and excess (proportionate amounts
however, increase and strengthen them)
KANT (1724-1804)
-
Being born in Königsberg, a small city in Germany, with 10 siblings, Immanuel grew up in poverty.
-
His parents were very strict about their religion, so Immanuel followed a very strict routine.
-
After graduating, he became a private tutor, a private teacher, and over halfway through his life,
he finally became a professor at his university.
-
During his time as a professor, Immanuel wrote many books and had a huge impact on
philosophy.
Theoretical Reason
-
How do we know what we know?
-
Can we understand things we have not directly or physically experienced?
-
These questions are the base of Theoretical Reason.
-
Using Theoretical Reason, we can understand what people do.
Practical Reason
-
Why do we act a certain way?
-
Kant argues that it is not only because of our instinct as mammals, but also our choice to do the
right thing based on our principles.
-
Using Practical Reason, we can understand what people should do.
Kant’s Ethics
-
Kant tells us that ethics must be based on freedom, and not simply facts about the world, or
there would be no reason to act morally.
-
He also argues that ethics cannot be based on experience, but rather on reason (a priori).
-
Kant says that if something is to be a moral “law,” it must hold true under any circumstance.
The Good Will
-
Kant’s description of “good will” can essentially be simplified to “doing what is right, only
because it is what we should do.”
-
If there is a reward for doing good, or punishment for not, then you do not have good will.
Moral Maxims
-
According to Kant, “doing what is right” is determined by the principles, or maxims, of how we
act.
-
These principles, however, cannot be subjective, or relative to a person’s own feeling. It must be
objective, or independent of an individual’s feeling.
The Person as an End, Not a Means
-
“Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person
of another, never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end.” (Immanuel Kant,
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals)
-
We cannot treat others only as an end. Workers are a means of production. What Kant means is
that we cannot treat people only as a means. If you intend to use someone as a means, you
should also intend to have them as an end.
LEVINAS (1905-1995)
-
Like Kant, Levinas was also born into a very religious family. He, however, was born in Lithuania,
and was Jewish.
-
He moved to France when he was 17 and became a French citizen 8 years later.
-
During the war with Germany, he was required to report for military duty, and in 1940 his troop
was forced to surrender.
Sameness of Things
-
Levinas saw the Western philosophy as attempting to overcome all differences.
-
They gather all things under one title, “Being.”
-
Differences are reduced to being accidents or unessential.
Singularity of Things
-
The Hebrew tradition instead focused on the singular person.
-
This gave each person an identity, or a purpose.
-
There was nothing that could hold all the singularities together.
The Good is Infinite
-
Where Western philosophers searched for Being, Levinas searched for Good, which he says goes
beyond Being.
-
Levinas wanted to maintain the fact that each person or thing is vastly unique.
-
Levinas called these unique qualities “traces” of Good, or God.
-
We cannot encounter something that is completely Good because we only ever see these traces.
The Face as a Witness to the Good
-
Levinas asked, “How do we encounter the traces that God has left us?”
-
According to Levinas, the face is the most naked part of the human body, and through the face
you can see the Good in a person.
-
Because of this, Levinas thinks of makeup as a mask that one hides behind, concealing who they
really are.
The Face as Ethical
-
The face Levinas mentions is not that of authority, but of a stranger who is defenseless and has
no power, and because of this is superior.
-
This face cannot force you to act, it can only ask for help.
Made Responsible by the Face
-
According to Levinas, the face makes us responsible. It is the call to act.
-
According to Levinas’ ethics, we cannot be forced towards the way of God, but rather we are
nudged in the right direction and we must agree to go down that path.